Learning / English Dictionary

STUFF

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Miscellaneous unspecified objects

Example:

the trunk was full of stuff

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("stuff" is a kind of...):

object; physical object (a tangible and visible entity; an entity that can cast a shadow)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "stuff"):

doodad; doohickey; doojigger; gimmick; gismo; gizmo; gubbins; thingamabob; thingamajig; thingmabob; thingmajig; thingumabob; thingumajig; thingummy; whatchamacallit; whatchamacallum; whatsis; widget (something unspecified whose name is either forgotten or not known)

etcetera (additional unspecified odds and ends; more of the same)

sundries (miscellaneous objects too numerous or too small to be specified)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Unspecified qualities required to do or be something

Example:

you don't have the stuff to be a United States Marine

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("stuff" is a kind of...):

quality (an essential and distinguishing attribute of something or someone)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A critically important or characteristic component

Example:

suspense is the very stuff of narrative

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("stuff" is a kind of...):

center; centre; core; essence; gist; heart; heart and soul; inwardness; kernel; marrow; meat; nitty-gritty; nub; pith; substance; sum (the choicest or most essential or most vital part of some idea or experience)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Senseless talk

Example:

don't give me that stuff

Synonyms:

hooey; poppycock; stuff; stuff and nonsense

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("stuff" is a kind of...):

bunk; hokum; meaninglessness; nonsense; nonsensicality (a message that seems to convey no meaning)

Domain usage:

argot; cant; jargon; lingo; patois; slang; vernacular (a characteristic language of a particular group (as among thieves))

Sense 5

Meaning:

Information in some unspecified form

Example:

there's good stuff in that book

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("stuff" is a kind of...):

info; information (a message received and understood)

Sense 6

Meaning:

Informal terms for personal possessions

Example:

did you take all your clobber?

Synonyms:

clobber; stuff

Classified under:

Nouns denoting possession and transfer of possession

Hypernyms ("stuff" is a kind of...):

personal estate; personal property; personalty; private property (movable property (as distinguished from real estate))

Sense 7

Meaning:

The tangible substance that goes into the makeup of a physical object

Example:

wheat is the stuff they use to make bread

Synonyms:

material; stuff

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Hypernyms ("stuff" is a kind of...):

substance (the real physical matter of which a person or thing consists)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "stuff"):

contaminant; contamination (a substance that contaminates)

particulate; particulate matter (a small discrete mass of solid or liquid matter that remains individually dispersed in gas or liquid emissions (usually considered to be an atmospheric pollutant))

dust (free microscopic particles of solid material)

elastomer (any of various elastic materials that resemble rubber (resumes its original shape when a deforming force is removed))

earth; ground (the loose soft material that makes up a large part of the land surface)

discharge; emission (a substance that is emitted or released)

detritus (loose material (stone fragments and silt etc) that is worn away from rocks)

waste; waste material; waste matter; waste product (any materials unused and rejected as worthless or unwanted)

fiber; fibre (a slender and greatly elongated substance capable of being spun into yarn)

fill; filling (any material that fills a space or container)

foam (a lightweight material in cellular form; made by introducing gas bubbles during manufacture)

homogenate (material that has been homogenized (especially tissue that has been ground and mixed))

humate (material that is high in humic acids)

impregnation (material with which something is impregnated)

paper (a material made of cellulose pulp derived mainly from wood or rags or certain grasses)

packing; packing material; wadding (any material used especially to protect something)

color; coloring material; colour; colouring material (any material used for its color)

plant material; plant substance (material derived from plants)

radioactive material (material that is radioactive)

thickener; thickening (any material used to thicken)

toner (a black or colored powder used in a printer to develop a xerographic image)

translucent substance; transparent substance (a material having the property of admitting light diffusely; a partly transparent material)

undercut (the material removed by a cut made underneath)

builder; detergent builder (a substance added to soaps or detergents to increase their cleansing action)

vernix; vernix caseosa (a white cheeselike protective material that covers the skin of a fetus)

wad (a small mass of soft material)

ballast (any heavy material used to stabilize a ship or airship)

bedding; bedding material; litter (material used to provide a bed for animals)

rind (the natural outer covering of food (usually removed before eating))

recycling (used or abandoned materials for use in creating new products)

precursor (a substance from which another substance is formed (especially by a metabolic reaction))

atom; corpuscle; molecule; mote; particle; speck ((nontechnical usage) a tiny piece of anything)

ammunition (any nuclear or chemical or biological material that can be used as a weapon of mass destruction)

floc; floccule (a small loosely aggregated mass of flocculent material suspended in or precipitated from a liquid)

HAZMAT (an abbreviation for 'hazardous material' used on warning signs)

aggregate (material such as sand or gravel used with cement and water to make concrete, mortar, or plaster)

raw material; staple (material suitable for manufacture or use or finishing)

sorbate (a material that has been or is capable of being taken up by another substance by either absorption or adsorption)

sorbent; sorbent material (a material that sorbs another substance; i.e. that has the capacity or tendency to take it up by either absorption or adsorption)

dielectric; insulator; nonconductor (a material such as glass or porcelain with negligible electrical or thermal conductivity)

conductor (a substance that readily conducts e.g. electricity and heat)

composite material (strong lightweight material developed in the laboratory; fibers of more than one kind are bonded together chemically)

chemical; chemical substance (material produced by or used in a reaction involving changes in atoms or molecules)

abradant; abrasive; abrasive material (a substance that abrades or wears down)

bimetal (material made by bonding together sheets of two different metals)

fluff (any light downy material)

animal material (material derived from animals)

sealing material (any substance used to seal joints or fill cracks in a porous surface)

adhesive; adhesive agent; adhesive material (a substance that unites or bonds surfaces together)

rock; stone (material consisting of the aggregate of minerals like those making up the Earth's crust)

mineral (solid homogeneous inorganic substances occurring in nature having a definite chemical composition)

diamagnet (a substance that exhibits diamagnetism)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Fill with a stuffing while cooking

Example:

Have you stuffed the turkey yet?

Synonyms:

farce; stuff

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "stuff" is one way to...):

fill; fill up; make full (make full, also in a metaphorical sense)

Verb group:

stuff (fill tightly with a material)

Domain category:

cookery; cooking; preparation (the act of preparing something (as food) by the application of heat)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s something PP
Somebody ----s something with something

Derivation:

stuffing (a mixture of seasoned ingredients used to stuff meats and vegetables)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Fill tightly with a material

Example:

stuff a pillow with feathers

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "stuff" is one way to...):

fill; fill up; make full (make full, also in a metaphorical sense)

Verb group:

farce; stuff (fill with a stuffing while cooking)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "stuff"):

cork (stuff with cork)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s something PP
Somebody ----s something with something

Derivation:

stuffer (a craftsman who stuffs and mounts the skins of animals for display)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Treat with grease, fill, and prepare for mounting

Example:

stuff a bearskin

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "stuff" is one way to...):

impregnate; saturate (infuse or fill completely)

"Stuff" entails doing...:

tan (treat skins and hides with tannic acid so as to convert them into leather)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 4

Meaning:

Overeat or eat immodestly; make a pig of oneself

Example:

The kids binged on ice cream

Synonyms:

binge; englut; engorge; glut; gorge; gormandise; gormandize; gourmandize; ingurgitate; overeat; overgorge; overindulge; pig out; satiate; scarf out; stuff

Classified under:

Verbs of eating and drinking

Hypernyms (to "stuff" is one way to...):

eat (eat a meal; take a meal)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s PP

Sense 5

Meaning:

Obstruct

Example:

Her arteries are blocked

Synonyms:

block; choke up; lug; stuff

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "stuff" is one way to...):

back up; choke; choke off; clog; clog up; congest; foul (become or cause to become obstructed)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Antonym:

unstuff (cause to become unblocked)

Sense 6

Meaning:

Cram into a cavity

Example:

The child stuffed candy into his pockets

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "stuff" is one way to...):

cram (put something somewhere so that the space is completely filled)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "stuff"):

chock up; cram; jam; jampack; ram; wad (crowd or pack to capacity)

overstuff (stuff too much)

fill out; pad (line or stuff with soft material)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s something PP
Somebody ----s something with something

Sentence example:

They stuff the cart with boxes

Sense 7

Meaning:

Press or force

Example:

She thrust the letter into his hand

Synonyms:

shove; squeeze; stuff; thrust

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "stuff" is one way to...):

force; push (move with force)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody PP
Somebody ----s something PP

Sentence example:

They stuff the books into the box

Credits

 Context examples: 

And that is what really is the key stuff to make it sound nice, he said.

(Does Our Galaxy Sound Like Funky Blues Music?, George Putic/VOA)

Common symptoms of ear barotrauma include: • Pain • A feeling that your ears are stuffed • Hearing loss • Dizziness

(Barotrauma, NIH)

Administration by way of food stuff.

(Dietary Route of Administration, NCI Thesaurus)

"What do you call this stuff?" he asked, touching a fold of her dress that had blown over his knee.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Mine is famous good stuff, to be sure.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

Phoo! phoo! cried the Admiral, what stuff these young fellows talk!

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

It was at such a moment that I learned the stuff of which my three comrades were composed.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It was a small pyramid of black, putty-like stuff, exactly like the one upon the table of the study.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Every pocket stuffed with pennies and half-pennies—421 pennies and 270 half-pennies.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

She looked at me with evident suspicion: "Nay, she never sold stuff i' that way."

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)